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Mini-review: ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’
Ever since “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” for the Atari 2600 ruined many a childhood back in Christmas of 1982, licensed video games — those based on movies, TV shows or other mass media — have been looked upon with wary suspicion. For good reason. It’s only been in recent years that games based on other media — particularly movies or comic books — have been up to snuff. Call it the “Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay” phenomenon: the rare case where a game was better than the source material.
“Batman: Arkham Asylum” may not be better than “The Dark Knight,” last year’s hit movie, but as a video game, it towers, brooding, as one of the best licensed games of this console generation.
Combining refined, ballet-like combat, neat and well-implemented gadgets, a great sense of challenge and pacing, and a great script and voice acting by veterans of the “Batman” animated series, it simply works as a cohesive, finely crafted piece of entertainment.
Stuck in the title’s dank, criminal-infested asylum, Batman must use his wits, abilities and tools to take down the Joker and his minions (including a very entertaining, very naughty Harley Quinn) through a series of challenges. They’re not easy, but they’re also not impossible. The game is challenging, but gives just enough rope to keep you moving through. And it doesn’t hurt that the game is gorgeously rendered, making the slow-mo fighting that much more beautiful to behold.
Sure, there’s no multiplayer modes and the game isn’t built for online play. But it’s a single-player adventure that’s smart, polished and true to the grit and personality of the darker “Batman” films, cartoons and comics. It’s stuffed with unlockable extras and there’s even several downloadable battles (so far, free) to extend the gameplay.
“Arkham Asylum” is a stunner, and a welcome surprise after years and years of sub-par games based on “Batman.”
“Batman: Arkham Asylum”
$60, for PlayStation3, Xbox 360 and Windows PCs
Rated T for Teen
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